I’ve come across a number of opinions on the net about whether prediabetes exists and felt compelled to write about it.

After having done a bit of research, I came to the conclusion that it does in fact exist. Confirmed by ADA, WebMD along with the other respectable sites.

American Diabetes Association states that there is such thing as prediabetes. Currently there is no stage 1; I wonder who made it up.

Prediabetes means that you have a high risk for developing a full-blown diabetes, so you better do the right things such as watching your carbs, exercising, drinking water etc. There are specific test values to confirm it.

Prediabetes is diagnosed when A1C is between 5.7% and 6.4%. My A1C numbers were always below 6.4%. A1C test measures the average blood glucose for the past 2 to 3 months. There are a few other tests that have prediabetes values as well. I described them in my earlier post, Discovering prediabetes – an eye opener.

Diabetes is diagnosed when A1C is 6.5% or more. Mine has never been over 6.4%, knock on the wood.

Being a prediabetic, I am able to control my blood sugar with diet and staying physically active. This morning my blood sugar was 102. It’s been generally between mid 90’s to about 105. I am not on any medication or insulin.

Like I noted in my earlier post, the diagnosis of diabetes was practically dumped on me, without much of an explanation or compassion. I was initially in shock; here goes another chronic condition. If however I was told that I actually had a prediabetes, this would have been much easier to accept and cope with at the time.

By comparison, have you ever heard of precancerous conditions? Likewise, these do exist, however no one argues that this is a stage 1 of cancer. Precancerous conditions are associated with an increased risk for developing cancer. The same is true of prediabetes.

For those not having been diagnosed with diabetes, do you want to know your risk for developing it? Here’s a free test to find out, or you can call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383).

If you feel like reading about it, there’s a book titled Taming the Tiger. It’s a survival guide for the first year after being diagnosed. I like the style it’s written in, and the explanation that everything that’s white has high carbs content. Here now, it’s available for a free download in the PDF format. Enjoy.

Your mileage may vary. This is my mileage. In other words, I respect your opinion if it differs from mine.